Lehigh Scores Early and Often vs. Holy Cross

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Lehigh scored early and often, taking a 6-0 lead after one quarter and exploding for eight in the third on its way to a 20-4 win over Holy Cross on a rainy Saturday afternoon at the Ulrich Sports Complex. In the process, Lehigh reached 20 goals for the first time since March of 2010. The Mountain Hawks improve to 8-3 overall and 4-2 in Patriot League play.

"I was proud of our offensive effort today," said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. "We've struggled to get to the teens this year and when we've gotten to the teens, it's been 13 and we haven't been able to get passed that. Our attack did a great job today. I really challenged those guys to step up and carry us and they did that."

Junior Dan Taylor paced the offense with seven points behind three goals and a career-high four assists. Classmate Patrick Corbett posted his second straight hat trick (and ninth of his career), finishing with a game-high four goals along with an assist for a career-high five points. One game after a career-high five points, sophomore Reid Weber matched that behind two goals and three assists. The starting attack combined for nine goals and eight assists on the afternoon.

Sophomore Billy Oppenheimer also tallied two goals and an assist while junior Pat Dougherty had two assists and classmate Kurtis Kaunas scored a goal and added an assist.

"Our middies did a nice job of starting the offense and making the proper looks," said Cassese. "At times, that was for them to shoot the ball and at times, it was to make the right passes. We've been harping on the continuation of our offense. We've been a lot of one dodge and shoot. Getting multi-pass possessions was something we wanted to do today and I thought our offense did a nice job of that."

Freshman Casey McAdam was sensational once again at the faceoff X, winning 15 of 20 while scooping three groundballs. He has now won 32 of 43 over the last two games. Senior Ryan Buttenbaum also won 4 of 7 faceoffs with four groundballs.

Sophomore defenseman Tripp Telesco finished with three groundballs and three caused turnovers while senior Lukas Mikelinich also caused three turnovers. Senior Ty Souders scooped a game-high five groundballs.

Senior Jimmy Cahill got the scoring started just 20 seconds into the game while Corbett made it 2-0 less than two minutes later. The lead swelled to 4-0 after goals from freshman Ray Mastroianni and senior Matt Risk beforeTaylor and Corbett rounded out the first-quarter scoring.

Kevin Lux got Holy Cross on the board at 12:51 of the second quarter, but Lehigh answered with the next three. Lux's second of the game pulled the Crusaders within 9-2, but the Mountain Hawks answered in a big way. Weber's second goal rounded out the first-half scoring and began a string of 10 straight Mountain Hawk goals bridging the end of the second and beginning of the fourth quarters. Lehigh outscored Holy Cross 8-0 in the third quarter. Taylor assisted on two straight Corbett goals in the span of 1:34 as part of the run.

Lehigh finished with a 51-20 edge in shots and 37-22 advantage in groundballs. Junior goalie Matt Poillon stopped five of seven shots sent his way over the first three quarters before sophomore Steve Brodeur relieved him and made four saves, allowing two goals. A pair of Crusaders goalies combined to make 10 saves.

The Mountain Hawks will remain home next Saturday (Apr. 5) to host Colgate in their final regular season home game. It's Senior Day as the Lehigh seniors will be recognized prior to opening faceoff. The game was originally scheduled for Goodman Stadium but has been moved to the Ulrich Sports Complex due to field conditions following a cold and snow-filled winter.

"Hopefully our guys will take this momentum going into the week," said Cassese. "It will be nice to have a full week to prepare and get our bodies rested and get ready to go on Saturday."